


I Could've Loved You

by jurawks



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Timeline What Timeline, filler scene, mentions of Connor, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-07
Updated: 2018-03-07
Packaged: 2019-03-28 06:02:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13897824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jurawks/pseuds/jurawks
Summary: [SPOILER ALERT For Assassins' Creed 3] The things Ziio and Haytham would say if they could see the past, present and future; if they could turn back time; if they made a different choice.





	1. Part 1: Ziio

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I just moved to AO3 from Fanfiction.net. (Yes, I know, don't judge me.) Posting an old work here to test the waters and interface. I played Assassins Creed 3 a long, long time ago. It always pains me that Haytham was a Templar. This fic is me wishing that he never was.

I could've loved you, Haytham. I could've. 

The stability in your arms, the smile on your lips, the history in your eyes. But I saw the hard determination in your fists the first time we met, and I understood. You could never love me. 

Still, I think of you sometimes. And I surprise myself with how much I remember of you. I remember the blues of your robe and your hawk-like hat. I remember thinking that you must be a sign of change. A messenger of the gods. A guardian of the earth and her children. I remember thinking that you must be the answer to our red-coated problems. But now I think I was only selfish. And blind. You weren't the answer to our problems, only the bringer. 

Maybe I still think too kindly of you, but sometimes I think that you also brought some good. Like my son, Ratonhnhaké:ton. Yes, _**my**_ son, because I am too afraid to associate him with you. I am too afraid that if my people discover the truth, they will cast him out. A Kanien'kehá:ka* is no one without his tribe. You understand, don't you? Maybe one day, when the sun sets on this world, he may call you 'father'. I think you will like it. 

Sometimes I think of what we will be like as a family. Maybe you will live with us in Kanatehséton*. But I think not. You will stay in Boston or New York or London. You are an ambitious man. Filled with the future. You've killed out of blind ambition and bloodthirsty power. You will not make a good father. And my son will not walk down that same path. Ratonhnhaké:ton will choose the one you did not choose. One day, Haytham, both your paths will cross and I think he will bring you many troubles. 

Will you remember me then? Will you look at my son and see me in his eyes? Will you think of me and stay your hand? Will you remember our time together? They were the happiest days of my life. Also the stupidest. I was naive. And you were desperate. And I knew nothing about you. 

But now I do. 

I am sorry, Haytham. If it were a different time and we were different people, I could've loved you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kanien'kehá:ka - also known as the Mohawk ; Connor's people  
> Kanatehséton - a Kanien'kehá:ka village ; Connor's village


	2. Part 2: Haytham

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The things Haytham would say to Ziio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> References to Edward Kenway and Assassins Creed: Forsaken.

Ziio, I’ve seen him for myself.

When Charles came to me about a boy who bore your necklace, I thought it chance. Sixteen years on, now I am convinced that boy is my son. **_Your_** son. I am not so proud to claim him as my own. I know my place.

Still, it’s strange. How our brief alliance has birthed a son with whom I will cross swords with. I never thought it possible. I thought that sixteen years would be time enough to sever the present from the past. It seems I was wrong. Time only serves to deal us the consequences of our actions.

When your village burned, and you with it, I could not grieve. My enemies and the Order would see it weakness. But I allowed myself a brief moment of memory. Memory of the wit of your tongue, of the soft of your touch. Memory of you walking away. Would the consequences have been different if I asked you to stay? Perhaps you would’ve left anyway. Or, you would’ve given me another chance. But that matters little now. What matters now is the boy. 

He has your eyes, Ziio.  But the nose and mouth of a Kenway. He swears like a pirate*, but in his eyes is the same stubborn conviction in yours. They tell me his name is Connor. 

I tried to have him killed – thinking that perhaps his death would also be the death of my fondness for you.  But when they dropped the floor under his legs and the rope caught around his neck, I acted as a father for once. I saved his life.* I do not know why. If I had let him hang that day, my troubles with him would be over. Perhaps it was dissatisfaction, then. Dissatisfaction that my son and enemy should die in such an unworthy manner. Perhaps I was giving him a second chance to prove himself. But my actions have dug my own grave. Connor will try to kill me.

I could’ve loved him, you know. If it were not for his abominable creed and his insufferable ignorance. His strength and courage is admirable. And sometimes I see myself when I look at him. I wish I could turn him to my cause. Perhaps then, our strife will be over. Perhaps then, we can finally understand each other – man and man, father and son. But it is too late now. We will never see eye to eye.

I _am_ sorry, Ziio. Sixteen years ago, I could've loved you. Sixteen years ago, I could’ve loved Connor too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He swears like a pirate - Easter egg! Technically Connor doesn't swear. But allow me this moment of poetry to insert Edward's legacy plzkthx.  
> I saved his life - Spoiler alert from Assassins Creed: Forsaken. Apparently it was Haytham who severed the rope when Charles Lee hung Connor. The game was vague enough to not show us exactly what happened, only letting us assume that it was the Assassins who cut Connor free.


End file.
